Biosketch

Chuck McGuire is a principal investigator (PI) managing several APL-UW research projects. He is the chief systems engineer for the National Science Foundation sponsored Ocean Observing Initiative (OOI) Cabled Array (CA) project, overseeing the engineering effort for the maintenance of the OOI CA. He served as the lead systems engineer on the CA during construction and was responsible for: Requirements analysis, interface coordination with the cyberinfrastructure and coastal/global implementing organizations, project planning, technical review of all systems and subsystems, document management, project toolset Integration and management of all procurements greater than $250,000.

In 2016, McGuire managed the APL-UW team supporting the Navy’s ICEX16 exercise in the Arctic. This involved identifying a location for, constructing, supplying, powering, fueling, feeding and providing air support for a camp built on an ice floe in the Beaufort Sea, 180nm north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to support up to 60 personnel for up to a four-week period. He served as the PI for the PMS-485 sponsored TASW Carina undersea glider program, delivering eight “heavy” Seagliders to PMS-485 which proved themselves highly capable in real-world exercises. McGuire is currently the systems engineer for the DARPA sponsored Dragnet urban drone detection program. Working with a diverse team, he and others designed the hardware package and aerial employment system that is now currently in Phase II. He is an FAA-certified Part 107 UAS pilot and manages the APL-UW drone fleet for Dragnet.

McGuire came to APL-UW in September 2010 after a 25-year career with the U.S. Navy as a submarine officer having served aboard both Fast attack and Trident submarines. Retiring as a commander, some of his most notable achievements during his naval career were: Being qualified as a nuclear engineer, serving as the chief engineer of the U.S.S. Nebraska, serving as the chief pilot for DSRV Mystic, commanding the U.S. Navy's remotely operated vehicles unit where he was instrumental in the rescue of the Russian mini-sub AS-28 in August 2005, and being assigned as the operations officer for submarine group Trident, directing operations for 14 Trident submarines to include four recently converted SSGNs. While at submarine group Trident McGuire was a member of the Navy¹s ocean observing system security working group where he worked with NEPTUNE Canada in addressing the U.S. Navy's security concerns. He currently works with CNO N975C addressing those same concerns for the OOI project and NEPTUNE Canada.

Department Affiliation

Electronic & Photonic Systems

Education

B.S. Systems Engineering, U.S. Naval Academy, 1991

M.B.A. Business Administration, San Diego State University, 2005

Projects

Ice Exercises 2016 — Logistics and Engineering Support Every few years, APL-UW engineers travel to the Arctic to provide logistics and engineering support to the U.S. Navy submarine force and the Arctic Submarine Laboratory. They assemble a reliable shelter on the sea ice and assist with the experimental testing of scientific and military equipment in the Arctic environment.

25 Jan 2017

Videos

		Unmanned Air System — UAS The APL-UW unmanned air system (UAS) testbed is a collaborative project involving researchers specializing in autonomy, remote sensing, and ocean science instrumentation. This effort represents the beginning of a research program to extend our expertise into the aerial domain.			More Info		29 Jan 2014
		The overarching goal of this project is to develop new opportunities for basic and applied research. The work focuses not only on UAS technology (marine applications in particular) but also on the development of tools that will transform how research is conducted at sea. Recent tests with the prototype system have verified stability and key performance characteristics, with flight duration exceeding 20 mins and a top speed exceeding 30 knots.

In The News

NTSB locates wreckage of floatplane that crashed into Puget Sound KING5 News The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory helped to capture images via side scan sonar and 3D instruments. The instruments are on a multi-sensor towbody, which the laboratory calls MuST.

12 Sep 2022

60 Minutes: The Arctic Frontier CBS News, Lesley Stahl Lesley Stahl goes to the top of the world where the next battle over oil and mineral resources is shaping up as the region becomes more accessible due to climate change. She visits the ICEX 2016 camp built for scientific and military exercises by APL-UW engineers.

2 Oct 2016

Underwater volcanic eruption captured by new UW sensors KING5 News (Seattle), Glenn Farley For the first time, scientists can hear and monitor an underwater volcanic eruption as it happens. These observations of the Axial Seamount volcano are possible because of the 600 miles of fiber optic cable and 100 instruments installed by the OOI-RSN project off the Oregon and Washington coast.

30 Apr 2015